Resak and the Bear

(Retelling of an Ainu folktale)

Frigid water rushed by Resak’s canoe as he paddled against the current. Even with shards of ice clinging to its banks, the Ishikari River flowed strong. But Resak knew he was stronger.
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No Man’s Land

Atmosphere. The terraformers had yet to render it completely breathable, but the sight alone of blue sky was paradise after weeks spent slipping through hard vacuum.
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After

Death has you now in its embrace, disease is in your bones.
A swift and painless passing is your one and only hope.
Your mind is all but rotten through; few memories remain.
“What will be next?” is all you hear, resounding in your brain.
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In Spring’s Bed

Spring’s fingers traced the dark welts on my chest, which Winter had left only days before.
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A Park Bench on Death Row

They’re coming to take me away. I know this because my neighbor (a good, solid bench, who never once complained, though it had suffered more than its fair share of bird droppings) disappeared yesterday. Two fat men in stained overalls lifted it up and marched it away.
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The Man of the Railway

Yuichi Gotō straddled the train tracks like the Colossus of Rhodes. Despite his arthritic back, he stood tall. In one white glove he held a bullhorn, and in the other, a Swiss pocket watch. He held these things with purpose; the tools of his trade. He was honored to belong to that impeccable machine, the triumph of his nation—the Japan Rail.
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The Man in the Cowboy Hat

It’s the same every night. The same nightmare every night for weeks. It never changes, and that makes it all the worse.
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Of a God

I sit
By a lake to write
Of a breeze, of a time
Of a god
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